Korn have their origins in the friendship between Reginald Arvizu and Brian Welch, who shared a common hobby, namely playing guitar, from an early age. Both decided to start their own band and then persuaded James Shaffer to join in, as they found his long hair suitable as a teenager.
In 1993 Shaffer and Welch paid a visit to their hometown Bakersfield and met Jonathan Davis, who was then a coroner and who was also a singer in the local band Sexart, in a bar. He was impressed by the offer to act on a trial basis in the existing Shaffer and Welch band. Since everyone involved found the result more than satisfactory, Davis quickly became a permanent member of the later Korn line-up.